Gude Infos

You're new in Germany and feeling a bit lost in Darmstadt? No worries - We've got you covered laugh
In our student survival guide we gathered a lot of useful information about life in Darmstadt and Germany. If you can't find the information you're looking for please feel free to contact us.

Guides

  • Traveling & Public Transport
  • Free time activities
  • Cultural events & locations
  • Nearby cities
  • German words and phrases

Traveling & Public Transport

  • if you want to use the public transport system the db-app and the rmv-app are a very useful tool to find out when the busses, trams and trains are running (both can be found in the app stores).
  • in Darmstadt you can use the call-a-bike bikes of DeutscheBahn for free for one hour at a time - after you register with your student email-address (be aware: returning them somewhere other than a call-a-bike stations costs 5,-€)
  • if you want to get/buy a bike yourself, there is a bike repair shop at the audimax of TU Darmstadt on the city-center campus if you ever need to do some repairs (most of the time there are also people to help you)
    • if you wanna keep your bike keep it locked... stealing bikes is sadly a thing here
  • a cheap way of traveling is bla-bla-car,  which will get you in contact with persons who drive (with their car) to the destinations you might want to go to - especially useful if you want to travel to another city

Free time activities

  • of course (especially in the summer) Herrngarten and all the other parks in Darmstadt are very inviting if you want to meet friends and hang out with them. Other sights in Darmstadt are
    • Mathildenhöhe (this building with the funny shaped roof, nice view over Darmstadt)
    • Hundertwasserhaus (a house by a famous austrian artist and architect)
    • Hessisches Landesmuseum (mostly nature historic pieces, some art)
    • Vivarium (a small zoo)
  • the Unisport Zentrum of TU Darmstadt offers many different activities and courses. You can find their offers on the USZ website
  • a great way to get to know other (local) students is to join one of the student-led groups at TU Darmstadt. Check them out here - maybe you find something interesting :)
  • if you wanna go swimming you have different options in Darmstadt:
    • Jugendstilbad (indoor and with sauna area)
    • A couple of lakes in Darmstadt and its souroundings - maybe go there in summer and not during the winter semester though wink
      • Woog
      • Grube Prinz von Hessen
      • Oberwaldhaus

Cultural events & locations

  • city festivals: if oyu want to see (and meet) a lot of people, bands and much more , visit one of Darmstadts city festivals 
  • the Centralstation is the biggest venue in Darmstadt with a lot of concerts
  • many other events take place at Oettinger Villa, Schlosskeller or Krone
  • you can get free tickets for the Staatstheater as a student of TU Darmstadt - you just need to register online at the AStA for a voucher
  • there are several cinemas (kinopolis, citydome, programmkino rex) which regularly show pictures in OV (mostly English)
    • there is also student cinema at the audimax of TU Darmstadt for cheap prices
  • you need more stuff do do? Not a problem.. just visit the nearby cities laugh

Nearby cities

Just a few suggestions how to spend your time in the cities in the Rhein-Main Area

  • Frankfurt
    • Senckenbergmuseum (big dinosaurs)
    • Städel Museum (big art collection)
    • Main Tower (you can go up there to the top and have a nice view over the city)
    • Paulskirche (not an irrelevant place in German history)
    • Sachsenhausen (lots of small bars)
    • Jazzkeller (Jazz - obviously)
  • Mainz
  • Wiesbaden

German for Runaways

If you want to get around Germany a little bit of German doesn't hurt laugh Here you can find the most important words and phrases:

Basics

Ja Yes
Nein No
Danke Thank you
Ich weiß nicht. I don't know.
Entschuldigung! Excuse me!
Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? Could you repeat that, please?
Ich spreche kein Deutsch. I don't speak German.
Sprechen Sie Englisch? Do you speak English?

Greetings

Hallo Hello
Gude Hello (local dialect)
Wie geht's? How are you?
Mir geht es gut, danke. I'm fine, thanks.
Tschüss! Bye!

More Infos

We're currently working on our website and, therefore, will add a lot of things here as well.. stay tuned heart